BONUS TRACKS: Joni Mitchell at Newport, Obama’s Summer Playlist, and More

You’ve surely heard by now the big news from Newport Folk Festival – Joni Mitchell’s return to the festival stage for the first time in 53 years. She was the surprise guest at Brandi Carlile’s closing set at the festival, drawing gasps and tears from the audience and even those onstage with her. Mitchell sang and played guitar for a set of 13 songs, accompanied by Carlile, Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith, Wynonna Judd, Lucius, Marcus Mumford, and more. Read more about the moment in this coverage from Billboard, and enjoy this post-set interview with CBS Mornings in which Mitchell owns up to some nervousness before the festival and recounts her hard work to recover guitar playing and many other skills after a brain aneurysm in 2015. Also surprising fans at Newport last weekend was Paul Simon, who appeared onstage and played four songs at the end of a tribute set led by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, which you can read more about via Rolling Stone. ND photographers Jim Brock and Anthony Mulcahy were there for both big moments, and we’ll bring you their amazing photos in next Tuesday’s Through the Lens column.

Barack Obama released his annual summer playlist this week, and as usual it features artists from a wide range of genres and eras. Beyoncé is on there, with her brand new single “Break My Soul,” and so is Dr. John, Prince, Jack White, CAAMP, Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves, and Lyle Lovett. Check out the 44-song playlist via the former president’s tweet, or put it right in your ears via Spotify. (Also per tradition, Obama released his summer reading list this week, too. Check that out here.)

Lucy Negro Redux, a ballet set to a score by Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi, is coming to the small screen soon via PBS’s Great Performances series. The ballet, performed by the Nashville Ballet and based on a book about the “Dark Lady” thought to be a muse to William Shakespeare, will have its TV premiere on Sept. 16 a 9 p.m. on most PBS stations. Read more about the Great Performances episode (titled “Black Lucy and the Bard”) via PBS. For an inside look at the ballet and its creation, including lots of photos, check out the Summer 2022 issue of No Depression’s journal, available now in print or digitally.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, whose district includes the music town of Detroit, has circulated a letter among fellow lawmakers proposing a congressional resolution that would create a new royalty system for music that is streamed. The new program would fall under the existing Copyright Royalty Board and nonprofit Sound Exchange, which already administrate royalties from some digital listening, including satellite radio. Similar ideas are making their way through political processes in the UK and France. “We have to stop taking art for granted,” Tlaib said, according to coverage in Rolling Stone. “Many of the people who fill our lives with joy and creativity are also struggling to get by, and that’s in large part because of how corporations have stacked the deck to enrich themselves at the expense of the people creating that art.”

We at No Depression were saddened to hear about the passing of John Rominger, a friend and frequent contributor of dynamic concert photos, a couple weeks ago. “While John was a kind, thoughtful, and accommodating photographer, what struck me most was he was an extremely personal one,” says ND photo editor Amos Perrine, whose weekly Through the Lens column features photos from ND contributors far and wide, including John. “He photographed well-known artists, but he found the most joy in capturing the exuberance, the warmth of the younger musicians and the not-so-well-knowns. His photos were not about photography per se, they were about his love of the music. I will miss not only his photos, but our chats about music as well.” Here is just a small sample of photos that John, who was based in Portland, Oregon, shared with No Depression recently. You can find more of his work on Instagram at @bootlegconcertportraiture. We join his family and friends in mourning his loss and are so grateful for his contributions to No Depression over the years.

WHAT WE’RE LISTENING TO

Here’s a sampling of the songs, albums, bands, and sounds No Depression staffers have been into this week:

The new Spotify playlist of songs by artists featured in our Summer 2022 “Movers & Shakers” journal
Chris Shiflett – “Long, Long Year”
Dr. John with Willie Nelson – “Gimme That Old Time Religion,” from Dr. John’s new, posthumous album, Things Happen That Way, coming September
John Fullbright – “Paranoid Heart,” from his new album, The Liar, coming in September
Miko Marks – “One More Night,” from her new album, Feel Like Going Home, coming in October
Emily Scott Robinson ­– “When it Don’t Come Easy”
Dida Pelled – “Showgirls”
Aqualung – “Imperfect Cadence”
Anya Hinkle feat. Akira Satake – “Coming Home” (Folk Alley premiere)
Plains (Waxahatchee/Katie Crutchfield and Jess Williamson) – “Problem With It,” from their new album, I Walked With You a Ways, coming in October

Dan Tyminski – One More Time Before You Go: A Tribute to Tony Rice [EP]
Little Quirks – “Maybelle,” from their new EP, Call to Unknowns, coming in August
Dale Ann Bradley feat. J.D. Pennington – “The Sun Is Going to Shine”
Kasey Chambers – “Lose Yourself” (Eminem cover)